Theme

stage ships 65 themes. They are the themes of the diff renderer, so the colors of the code are the real thing and not an approximation.

The rest of the interface takes its colors from the theme you pick. One choice restyles the whole app.

Pick one

1. Press ; to open the settings. The Theme section is the first one.
2. Press / and type part of the name.
3. Press enter on the theme you want.

The filter stays until esc clears it, so you can try several themes without typing the name again.

Follow the terminal

Choose auto to let the terminal decide. stage asks the terminal for its background color and picks light or dark to match.

Key	Meaning
theme	The theme, or auto
themeLight	The theme auto picks on a light terminal
themeDark	The theme auto picks on a dark terminal

A terminal that does not answer the question gets the dark theme.

Try one for a single run

stage --theme catppuccin-mocha

This overrides the configuration for that run only, which is the fastest way to look at a theme you are unsure about.

Transparency

Turn on transparentBackground to stop stage painting its own neutral surfaces. The background of your terminal then shows through.

Use it when your terminal is translucent. The theme still colors the code and the diff.